History of Ballet

Vocabulary
Plié – to bend

Tendu – stretched
 Ballet words are in French
Tombé - to fall, falling

Pas de bourrée
 – step back, side, front
Grand -big

Demi
 – half, small
Grand Jeté - big leap

Balancé- rocking step; waltz

Sauté – jumped

En Croix – on the cross

Passé – passed

Pique – pricked

Port de bras – carriage of the arms

Dégagé - Disengaged

 échappé - escaping or slipping movement

Rond de jambe
 – round of the leg
Assemblé - To assemble

Changement – to change feet

Glisade – to glide

Echappé – escaping or slipping movement

 Sickling Feet and Turn-out

Sickling is a fault in which the dancer turns

her foot in from the ankle therby breaking
the straight line of the leg.

Rotation in turn-out should come

from the hip joint to limit pressure
on the knees and ankles.
 Vocabulary Continued (for Intermediate)

En l’air- in the air

Développé - time deveopled, developing movement
Soutenu – sustained
Fondu- to melt
Coupé - to cut
Pas de chat – Cat Step
Penché- leaning step; inclining
piqué - pricked
pirouette- to whirl; turn
Sous-sus - under-over
Jeté - throwing step
Pas de basque- basque step
Sissonne – scissors
Fouette – whipped
Tour jeté- turning jump
 Origins of Ballet

 The art of Ballet can trace

its origins to the early
seventeenth century,
when dancers performed
to entertain audiences
between scenes of an
opera.
 Origins of Ballet

These short dances grew in popularity and

importance until they became a form of theater in
their own right, accompanied by a standardization of
movements and defining of other stylistic
conventions.
 King Louis XIV, The Sun King

In 1661, King Louis XIV

of France founded the
Académie Royale de
Musique et de Danse,
establishing Paris as the
center of academic ballet.
French Court Ballets

 Most French court ballets

consisted of dance scenes
linked by a minimum of
plot.
 Because they were
designed principally for
the entertainment of the
aristocracy, rich costumes,
scenery, and elaborate
stage effects were
emphasized.
Proscenium Stage & Professional Dancers

The proscenium stage was first adopted in France in the mid-

1600s, and professional dancers made their first appearance,
although they were not permitted to dance in the grand ballet
that concluded the performance; this was still reserved for the
king and courtiers.
Court Ballet Peak

The court ballet reached its

peak during the reign (1643-
1715) of Louis XIV, whose
title the Sun King was
derived from a role he
danced in a ballet.
 Court Ballets and Five Positions of the Feet

Many of the ballets presented at his court were

created by the Italian-French composer Jean
Baptiste Lully and the French choreographer Pierre
Beauchamp, who is said to have defined the five
positions of the feet.
Also during this time, the playwright Moliere
invented the comedie-ballet, in which danced
interludes alternated with spoken scenes.
 The Move to Professional Dancers

 Louis XIV stopped dancing in 1670, and his courtiers

followed his example.

 By then the court ballet was already giving way to

professional dancing. At first all the dancers were men, and
men in masks danced women's roles.

 The first female dancers to perform professionally in a

theater production appeared (1681) in a ballet called Le
Triomphe de l'Amour (The Triumph of Love).
 Tutu and Pointe Shoes

• To enhance the image of the

dancer’s weightlessness.

• Ballerinas began wearing

Pointe Shoes in the mid-
1800 but shoes had no
support. Pointe shoes were
made famous by ballerina
Anna Pavlova in the 1900s.

• Tutu is a skirt made of a net

fabric called Tule. It allowed
the dancer to show their legs
and feet on stage.
 Tutu

Tutu is a skirt made of a net fabric called Tule. It

allowed the dancer to show the technique of the
legs and feet on stage.
 Romantic Era

The era began with the 1827 début in

Paris of the ballerina Marie Taglioni in
the ballet La Sylphide, 
The era marked the rise of
the ballerina as a central part of ballet.
She was one of the most celebrated
ballerinas of the romantic ballet.
Considered to be the first dancer to
dance en pointe.
Known for shortening her skirt in La
Sylphide, which was considered highly
scandalous at the time.  Marie Taglioni in La Sylphide
 Classical Ballet

 Classical ballet is generally structured

on a narrative pretext. It is important
that the audience has an
understanding of the basic story line
so as to fully understand the complex
combination of movement, music and
storytelling that makes up a
performance.
 Some ballets, like the Nutcracker or
Sleeping Beauty, are based on
traditional stories that are familiar
even today; others are more obscure
and require a greater effort on the
part of the dancers and the audience
to fully understand their meaning.
 Ballet Arizona

• Founded in 1986 as resident ballet company for Arizona

• Directed by Jean-Paul Comelin formally a dancer from
Stuttgart Ballet.
• In 2000, Ib Anderson was named artistic director.
• As a former dancer for New York City Ballet mounted many
Balanchine dances on company.